Tuesday, November 30, 2004

I recently took my CCW (conceal and carry weapon) class. For this task I received a certificate which allows me to apply for my CCW license, once I apply I will be fingerprinted at a separate location by a third party that this task was outsourced to. Once I have completed all of these tasks, I should received my CCW license in the mail, if I pass the background check.

This entire process feels like a runner quest in everquest.

For the enjoyment of all, I took some notes, not on the class, but on the people attending the class.

This class was all men, which the instructor said was unusual. Just a few weeks before she had an entire class with all women and one guy.

Our instructor's name was Candace, and she was the cutest instructor that I could have imagined having for this type of class. She was ex law enforcement with a nice southern drawl and she was married. Her gun which she used for demonstrations was a H&K .45 compact. A very nice gun.

In our class....

...There was once back guy who worked in security and knew about as much as I did about guns, he wore black leather boots and a black leather hat with a saved head. I thought he was in a motorcycle gang until I talked to him more.

He rented a gun, I think it was a colt .40 Cal.

...There was an old white guy who had given all of his guns to his son, and realized that he did not have any for himself, so he went and bought a colt and was going ahead with the class just to finish the cycle. He has spent some time in the military sometime after WWII from what I could tell, he might have even fought in WWII but I do not think he was that old.

I do not know what he shot.

...There was a older regular white guy with a family, he had a mature outlook on guns and had even had the chance to use his gun in a defensive manner one time.

The older regular white guy was sitting at home in his recliner, and his child screamed. He looked out the window into his yard. A couple big guys where beating down one other fella. It just happened to be the beatee's lucky day. The older regular white guy jumped up and got his gun, and went out the door. As the older regular short white guy approached the maul with his gun showing, but pointed down. He calmly called out and asked the beaters to get off the beatee. One of the beaters looked up, quickly tapped his friend on the back and both backed off. They then turned and fled. The regular short white guy then asked the beatee to get off of his property. Soon after this after the regular white guy had entered back into his home, the police arrived at the beckoning of his neighbors who saw someone with a gun. The police questioned him, and then promptly realized they had wasted their time.

He shot a colt defender.

...There was a regular white guy around my age. He was a hunter and I school to become an airplane mechanic.

He shot a Ruger 9mm.

...Their was a really fat guy, who sat with his hands down the front of his pants, that was slightly disturbing, and I did not talk to him.

He rented a .40 Cal glock and shot it.

...There was a fire fighter who I think was in the military. He was about my age. He was afraid of getting seriously hurt in the class because he thought many of the others had no idea what they were doing, or how to shoot a gun. The gun gods must have smiled on him this day, because to my knowledge he walked out fine.

He had borrowed a friends USP tactical, i tried not to drool when i held it.

...There was the token dumbass. He knew the fire fighter, and they were joking around some and having a good time. While the token dumbass was taking the shooting part of the class, the fire fighter told us to look at the right eyebrow of the token dumbass. He said that the token dumbass was shooting his gun. The dumbass pulled the trigger and nothing happened, he then proceeded to bring the gun up to his face to examine it. As the gun was close to his face and with him looking down the sights with the gun pointing downrange, the gun discharged. It was a slowfire. As the slide extended backward to cock the gun, it hit the token dumbass in the eyebrow.

I am just researching and trying to expand my choice of handguns. The Springfield had several safety features that the glocks do not have. It is newer, so there is less first hand information about it.

It studied the injuries and deaths caused by firearms in the home, it did NOT study the risks and benefits of firearms in the home. Once the study looks at injury data Kellermann then makes a conclusion about “guns kept in the home”. The injury data is an entirely different, although a component of studying “guns kept in the home”. The injury data is a subset of the information needed to decide if owning a gun is a good decision.

Flaws

Where did the gun come from?

If all the shootings were from guns kept in the home then Kellermann’s study would probably hold up. The injuries and deaths are not all from that set of data. Many of the injuries and deaths were from guns brought into the home by an outsider.

A subsequent study, again by Kellermann, of fatal and non-fatal gunshot woundings, showed that only 14.2% of the shootings involving a gun whose origins were known, involved a gun kept in the home where the shooting occurred. (Kellermann, et. al. 1998. "Injuries and deaths due to firearms in the home." Journal of Trauma 45:263-267) ("The authors reported that among those 438 assaultive gunshot woundings, 49 involved a gun 'kept in the home where the shooting occurred,' 295 involved a gun brought to the scene from elsewhere, and another 94 involved a gun whose origins were not noted by the police [p. 252].") (Kleck, Gary. "Can Owning a Gun Really Triple the Owner's Chances of Being Murdered?" Homicide Studies 5 [2001].)

This study also includes officers acting in the line of duty, which most likely they did not live at the home in question.

Gun usageThe study also fails to study all gun uses. If you brandished a gun in the home to stop a criminal or scare one away, but no one was injured the instance of gun use would not have showed up in this study. Along the same line of thought, if a gun was discharged but no one was injured, it would also not be in this study. The uses of guns in this manner, according to some studies, make up a significant amount of actual gun uses.

An analysis by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz (Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, v. 86 n.1 [Fall 1995]) of successful defensive uses of firearms against criminal attack concluded that the criminal is killed in only one case in approximately every one thousand attacks.

Another flaw, of unknown size, is data concerning guns which were purchased lawfully and which ones were not. Most likely, at least some of the guns were bought illegally.

Secondly, the population samples used were skewed. Two of the cities used where high crime areas at the time. Although that data can be corrected for, it does not strengthen the study at all.

Finally, when applying the study to a handgun owner or prospective buyer, it is important to note the difference between rifles, shotguns, and handguns. This study lumped all firearms together in one block.

Padding the numbers

Suicide and guns

When studies start including the number of people who decided to end their life, who attempted to end their lives, or who actually ended their lives, I start to suspect the study’s motives. This group of people is being used a political pawn in gun control efforts. I personally find that particularly disgusting.

Mr. Kellermann was pleasant enough to do a study on the effects guns have on suicides also

In this study he concludes: “CONCLUSIONS. Ready availability of firearms is associated with an increased risk of suicide in the home. Owners of firearms should weigh their reasons for keeping a gun in the home against the possibility that it might someday be used in a suicide.”

Does owning a gun increase the risk of suicide? Or do other factors, such as a history of mental illness, increase the chance of suicide, and the risk of using a gun for suicide increases if you have one in the house?

Another study, which I found looks at data before and after laws which limit “access to guns by certain psychiatric patients”.

“Both sets of data indicate that gun control legislation may have led to decreased use of guns by suicidal men, but the difference was apparently offset by an increase in suicide by leaping. In the case of men using guns for suicide, these data support a hypothesis of substitution of suicide method.”

Accidental deaths and guns

Accidents do happen, and every life that is lost due to an accidental shooting is one that could have been prevented. Though the claims of limiting guns for this reason is weak in my opinion.

Accidental deaths by gun occur less than any other recorded cause of accidental death except poisoning by gas and vapor.

This is not to minimize the death of anyone who was accidentally killed by a gun, but accidental gun deaths are not a common occurrence. It is rare, and confined mostly to those who should know better. Children are accidentally killed by guns, but are not the group most likely to suffer, although that is not what some groups would like to you believe.

This page at the CDC can answer in detail you questions on unintentional deaths by firearms. The results can be broken out by year and age.

246 accidental gun deaths happened in the years 1999- 2001 for children 14 and under. 2,402 total gun deaths happened for the three years mentioned. That means children younger than 14 made up a little more than 10 percent of unintentional deaths by firearms.

824, 776, and 802 unintentional deaths occurred in 1999, 2000, and 2001 by firearms. That is pretty good considering there is one gun for every single many woman and child in America.

From the Brady campaign website, “In 1996, handguns were used to murder 2 people in New Zealand, 15 in Japan, 30 in Great Britain, 106 in Canada and 9,390 in the United States.”

The fact that American has more firearm deaths than other country is not a surprise. Please look at a worldwide ranking of America compared to other countries in the total crime (per capita). You should have not problem finding us, because we near the top of the list, at number 5.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_tot_cri_cap&id=OECD

Firearm deaths are not the problem; they are a symptom of the crime problem. The Brady campaign has set its agenda against guns, when the real problem is crime. The firearm death problem will be solved when the crime problem is solved; it is as simple as that.

Guns and Crime on a personal level

Guns are tools used to kill, that is a fact. They kill quickly and effectively. They do not require large amounts of skill or strength to operate, but if a skilled operator were to gain access they only increase in damage potential. The combination of power, ease of use, and lethality make these weapons the choice of criminals and protectors of the peace.

These characteristics are what make a gun idea for self-protection; and because of their lethal nature they have a profound mental affect on attackers and would be attackers. In a game of knife, rock, or gun. Gun always wins, and cannot be replaced, only matched.

The benefits of concealed handguns are not limited to those who carry them or use them in self-defense. That these weapons are concealed keeps criminals uncertain as to whether potential victims will be able to defend themselves with lethal force.

A range of different gun laws as well as other methods of deterrence, such as the death penalty, were examined [in reducing deaths and injuries from multiple victims in a public shootings]. However, only the concealed-handgun laws succeeded in reducing deaths and injuries from these shootings. When states passed them, the number of multiple-victim public shootings declined by 84 percent. Deaths from these shootings plummeted by 90 percent, injuries by 82 percent.

Other studies have not been so conclusive, but have not shown allowing CCW permits increases crime.

“In the states discussed above, the dire warnings of the gun control lobbies were not realized. It should not be surprising that the carry laws appear not to have a noticeable impact on the homicide rate in most states (Florida, perhaps, excepted). To begin with, it is important to notice that in most of the states studied, the general rise and fall of murder rates before the new laws took effect roughly approximated the rate in the rest of the country. This suggests that, in general, the causes of changes in murder rates are largely determined nationally.”

Crime is one reason I have chosen to purchase and carry a gun. I have several risk factors associated with violent crime. I am a young male, rent, and live near a high crime area.

Owning a gun and choosing to carry the gun are serious decisions that do incur certain amounts of risk, but so does owning a toaster. The serious discussion of owning a gun for home defense and carrying a gun for personal protection are topics that should be discussed with sober judgment, clear, unbiased information; and a full knowledge of the responsibilities that come with owning and using a gun.

Unfortunately, biased studies get in the way of discussing lawful gun ownership and the risks. They pad their numbers, overstate their claims, and practice incomplete scholarship. The profound mental effect guns have, has let fear get in the way of clearly studying problems.

"Holiday shoppers at Target this year will notice something a little different — no ringing bells. The discount retailing giant has decided this year not to allow the red kettles and volunteers to collect donations near its stores, despite the Salvation Army’s 113-year history of doing so during the holiday season.

Citing a long-standing corporate policy banning solicitation, Target stated: "If we continue to allow the Salvation Army to solicit, then it opens the door to other groups that wish to solicit our guests."I will not be spending any money there or at any of this places.

The charity is already ringing away without the help of Best Buy and Home Depot, which have similar fund-raising bans.

And while Target does donate millions to charity annually, it's getting more attention for silencing the iconic bells.

The local target which has one entrance has a huge store front that is not used. Probably 80 percent of the store front is not used at all. There is enough room to park large blood buses, a few salvation army folks, and 1000 girl scouts selling cookies.

This article really changed my view of several corporations.

Last time i was in walmart, they had a guy collecting money for abused children (i think they were his), know i know why i do not see any thing like that at these other places.

While the salvation army may not be the most efficient way to give money, according to some, it is still better than not giving.

The only reason why target gives millions to charity is because they get a tax break, you take that incentive to give away, and you will see where they put their money.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Personally, I do not care what they show on TV. As far as I am concerned, CBS could show "Deep Throat" at 3:30 pm if they wanted to, just in time for the kids when they come home from school

The most magnificent government has bestowed upon us with their gracious foresight and wisdom, television ratings. Those ratings, not only raise the prices of the service we are seeking (Who pays the salaries of the people who rate movies? If it is the production companies, you pay it in the end. If it is the government, you pay it in taxes.), but provide for standardization of content and avenues of personal responsibility.

I do not care what they show on televisions, but as soon as TV (this goes for cable, satellite, satellite radio, or even UHF) starts not to adhere to the ratings they have promised to adhere to, I get upset.

As a parent you could do your part (or at least the part the government expects you to do) and you kid could still end up seeing something that you do not want you kid to see.

That is a problem to me.

I would prefer that the government never got involved in the first place. I would prefer that the content providers would voluntary rate their selves, and follow the rules they set for their selves, but that is not the situation I find myself in. Instead I find myself with a regulation mired industry, and an intrusive government.

I do not think the FCC should regulate content, but they do. If ABC is fined, they should not be fined for content, they should be fined for misrating their content.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

This week I training on a third party software product which my company has purchased to scan bills (or image bills) using OCR (optical character recognition) to read data from freight bills.

The company that we are using is TIS (Tops Imaging systems), they are based in Israel and have many clients world wide, so far their product seems really good. They designed a environment which looks a lot like your standard Microsoft visual programming environment. It is little buggy but does it job well enough.

About two weeks ago in our weekly meeting, my boss asked for volunteers, without telling us what we were volunteering for. No one raised their hands, he then asked me to raise my hand, I brought it up halfway very slowly. He then appointed me as the resident expert in the imaging software we bought.

If the process fails, it will not be my fault because I did not design it, but it will not make me look good either. The main problem is the time frame that was given to the company, but outside of that I think the implementation will do fine. It will be late, but that will be what they get for setting a deadline without consulting the resident expert in the imaging software.

Another intersecting thing, is the teacher of the class. He is a line-of-David-Jew. I always thought Jews were supposed to be short, but this guy is around 6'1".

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

first off I think this is a good idea, because the guns most likely to be stored in the cars are guns people conceal and carry. Conceal and carry permit holders are in general law abiding citizens.

In general, permit-holders were model law-abiders. Even off-duty police officers in Florida were convicted of violent crimes at a higher rate than permit-holders.Secondly, the law does nothing to prevent work place violence. The people who are going to shoot other people at work do not care about some law where their employer can fire them from their job if they bring a gun to work. Those people who are going to come into a work place shooting are crazy and know they are going to die anyways. The people of okla. Should at least get the chance to shoot back.

Also, if you company prohibits you from bring a gun to work, them they would also have the responsibility of protecting you. Which the police departments do not even hold their sevles to such a high standard.

War is dirty, bad, and ugly. There is no glamour, or bling bling in war. When it comes it brings the good and the bad.

We have seen some of the good, 70 million freed, and some of the bad, the nude human pyramid.

From the front lines there is another story, this time on tape.

"The U.S. military is investigating whether a Marine shot dead an unarmed, wounded insurgent during the battle for Falluja in an incident captured on videotape by a pool reporter."Did the marine screw up? Yes. But we (the ones who supported the war) are the ones who wanted him there, and asked him to do an impossible task: To wage war and maintain his humanity.

"The Marines said they are investigating why the wounded Iraqis were left behind for 24 hours and whether the man was killed illegally. Navy investigators said they believe they have located the fifth Iraqi -- the only one not wounded a second time -- who said he wanted provide information about the killing."Now the kids life is in the hands of a fucking insurgent. If the insurgent makes up some crap, he could put the kid away for life.

"Amnesty also noted reports that insurgents have used mosques as fighting positions, and in one incident appear to have used a white flag to lure Marines into an ambush."All violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law must be investigated and those responsible for unlawful attacks, including deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, and the killing of injured persons must be brought to justice," the group said in a statement issued Thursday."

But military sources also told FOX News that enemy fighters have used the tactic of feigning a wound to draw U.S. soldiers in, then opening fire on them. The Marine who apparently killed the injured fighter had reportedly been shot in the face the day before, FOX News has learned.

Insurgents have also been known to rig dead bodies with explosive devices that go off when U.S. troops approach.

If the Fallujah attack was augmented by increasing troops within a 50 mile radius then I suspect that this might be the best thing that can happen to Iraq.

Even then, if the insurgents did escape, we have the people of Iraq.

"Sunni clerics at several mosques called on residents to kick out bands of armed men who have come from outside the city, claiming that the clashes inside Ramadi were impoverishing its citizens."Improverish? I think that is an understatement. Everyone saw what happen to Fallujah, and how none of the insurgents promises where carried though with. I think that is a powerful message to the rest of the nation.

"Masri also said al-Qaeda has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the U.S.," According to the report, parts of which were read to TIME. Masri says his family, seeking refuge from al-Qaeda hunters, is now in Iran. "Of course this is "unproved", but this is not one of those things i want to leave up to chance.

I would support the wall IF it was staffed by automated machine guns that killed anything that came over the top or went underneath it.

Jim Williams, director of US-VISIT, said Mexican citizens holding Border Crossing Cards, or laser visas, would not be subject to the printing and photographing.
The cards allow Mexicans to enter the United States for short visits, as long as they do not travel more than 25 miles from the border in Texas, California and New Mexico; and 75 miles in Arizona.I think we have found the problem.

Sunday, November 14, 2004

This is probably the most comprehensive study on the effects of concealed handgun permit laws that I have ever seen. It references two other papers, covers EACH states conceal and carry laws, and addresses many arguments that gun control advocates bring up.

It does not bring up suicide, but does seriously address the legal issues associated with barring concealed handgun permits.

The actual study part is fair and balanced.

In the states discussed above, the dire warnings of the gun control lobbies were not realized. It should not be surprising that the carry laws appear not to have a noticeable impact on the homicide rate in most states (Florida, perhaps, excepted). To begin with, it is important to notice that in most of the states studied, the general rise and fall of murder rates before the new laws took effect roughly approximated the rate in the rest of the country. This suggests that, in general, the causes of changes in murder rates are largely determined nationally. But several other parts seem fairly biased, even to me.

To me this was the important part.

"It is well-settled American law that the police have no legal duty to protect any individual citizen from crime, even if the citizen has received death threats and the police have negligently failed to provide protection."I did not even read all of this, I ran out of time and energy.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

"As with most multilayered issues, however, the search for black-and-white answers yields perplexing shades of gray. For starters, except for the most vocal minorities, the "outrage" over permissiveness in entertainment runs wide but not especially deep, as people often express support for one thing but view another."I found it interesting that he did not quote an statistics on what people watch in America to back up his statement. I will offer one set of data that proves that son of a bitch wrong.

Here is a list of top movies adjusted for inflation. Also here is a list of top movies worldwide. Here is a list of the top 20 domestic grossing movies of all time.

Basic themes if you want to make a top them grossing movie: ships and love; humans fighting aliens with mystical powers and humans in love; cartoons in love; aliens which we love; guys who have special powers and jump around in their underwear, who then fall in love; humans, elves, drawfs, halfings with the help of mystical powers fighting orcs with mystical powers and a little bit of love; Jesus, who has mystical powers and some people love; dinosaurs, which love to eat us; kids with mystical powers fighting other people with mystical powers; and finally pirates who have mystical powers.

By they way if you made a movie with all this stuff in it, you would become the richest person on earth.

Dang it!!!! I should have read the entire article before I wrote all of this.

"Hollywood actually does a pretty good job of doing just that, assuming one bothers to look -- which, of course, political opportunists seldom do. While auteurs yearn to impress friends by testing boundaries with edgy R-rated fare, studios know Christmas is merrier with a "Harry Potter "-like franchise under the tree, and Robert Zemeckis used his A-list muscle to direct a lavish G-rated children's movie, "The Polar Express." "

I still liked the post anyways.

update: of course, a conservative would try to make some money off it the obvious fact.

"My wife and I now have a number of grandchildren who are growing up surrounded by the products of this culture. So four or five years ago I decided to stop cursing the darkness. I had been complaining about movies and their content for years, and instead to do something about it by getting into the film business. Fortunately my wife said, Phil, this is one of the nuttier things you've ever done, so at least keep your day job. Which I did. But I knew that the best way to get to know a business and maybe to affect it is first to dive into it, and second to invest in it so that you get a seat at the table. "

I am fascinated with the problems the Dutch people are facing. They have made a great socialist society, from what I can tell. They really should be commended for that, if you see that as an accomplishment. The recent death of an icon for them has waken them from a deep sleep, it seems.

People everywhere have great ideas on how to solve the different issues facing the Dutch people. Here is a gem of an idea, "Jan Colijn, 46, a bookkeeper from the central Dutch town of Gorinchem who was at the funeral Tuesday night, complained that the Netherlands' generous social welfare system had allowed Muslim immigrants to isolate themselves. Because of that, "there is a kind of Muslim fascism emerging here," he said. "The government must find a way to break these communities open."

The government has caused this problem, and now the government should fix the problem. I suspect that ideas like these will put the Dutch well ahead of most other countries sometime in the next decade.

John Ashcroft is gone. Wow I did not see that coming. In the article I read, I saw this section.

"Bush called Evans, whom he has known for three decades, "one of my most trusted friends and advisers," and lauded his efforts. Evans departs office in January, leaving behind a lukewarm economy."If our economy is lukewarm, what is the rest of the world's??? Oh well, what can you do. It is not like you can point out the growth rate or the number of jobs created.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Recently there have been some major changes in my life. I am not going though the "change" or having the "change"done, nor am I coming out of the closet.

EverQuest II (EQII) went live yesterday. I was one of the ones to get it a little earlier than the rest of America. This is a online computer game, where you pay a monthly fee. I played the first EQ a good bit, and was interested in this version.

At the base, EQII is much like the fist one, but visually it is much different. The first everquest relied on text much of the time, this one uses voiceovers for the non-player characters (NPCs). The current version of EQII does not have voice over IP. That is understandable, considering the problems with voice over IP in the game. Though Microsoft has seemed to solved similar problems with X-box live, SOE (Sony Online entertainment) has not implemented it in EQII yet.

One of the biggest problems with the first EQ was the economy. It suffered from rampant inflation. EQII has many ways in which the SOE team has tried to pull money out of the economy, to decrease the inflation or at least control it.

Because of the popularity of EQ, many entrepreneurs built websites catering to EQ information (Spell lists, item lists, NPC lists ). SOE has taken many of the best features of those websites, and combined them with player ranks. They have not created just a game, they have created an experience.

This entire assault on Fallujah rubs me the wrong way. Do not get me wrong, I want to see the terrorist feel the might of our military as much as the next guy. Let me give you a short time line of the Iraq situation, and you will probably see what I mean.

Major Ground assault disperses with Iraq armyThe enemy melted away into the population and did not fight to the death. The Iraq army dispersed is due to the fact they knew they would lose if they stood their ground. We knew this, they knew this. Live again to fight another day was their motto.

A coordinated decentralized insurgency forms and general instability

The reasons for an insurgency forming are wide and varied. Internal resistance to the American occupation, external groups funding internal groups resistant to the American occupation, and foreign fighters joining and fueling the fray. We dismissed the military. Saddam released a lot of criminals. We could have had a few more million troops over there. Yada. Yada. Yada.

My point is that these groups strength arose out of their nature. They had stealth, terror, plentiful supplies, wide range of movement, and willing members.

A coordinated centralized insurgency formsWe move from seeing violence and instability in several cities and in many different places in Iraq to seeing violence and instability only in a few areas, which we left by choice. The insurgency then uses those areas as staging areas for attacks, places to live, places to sleep, places to eat, and places to keep arms.

Here is the part that I do not understand and which makes me nervous.

When we get ready to attacked the few places left on the map the insurgency STAYS there. The allow us to surround them, prepare for a wide ranging attack, and they prepare to defend their ground. In other words, they are preparing to more or less fight to the death.

The two most viable options that I see are:

We are walking into a trap of some kind. Right now the insurgency has 10,000 to 15,000 Americans in one place, with even more Iraqi soldiers. A bio or chem attack would hurt us.

Or the insurgency is blinded by the desire to spread their culture and is not thinking tactically.

NOTE: I have been reading some of the reports, and it seems that our guys are ahead of schedule in clearing areas. The are facing resistance, but that resistance is fading when we push harder. Are they leaving to fight another day? Or they drawing us in to the center of the city? I do not know, but this seems a little odd to me.

UPDATE: Maybe they are not to dumb, or maybe they are dumber than I think.

Khalid said insurgent leaders had debated how many men to leave in the city. "There were different views about that," he added. "They discussed percentages like 20 per cent inside the city and 80 per cent outside, to save as many fighters as possible for future operations. In the end, they settled on a 50-50 split. As a commander would I want to leave my most dedicated men in a city to die? It sounds like a winning strategy for us at least.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

My parents wanted to meet me and my sister halfway in Little Rock. My parents live in south Arkansas, they had about a 2 and a half hour drive as did I. On the way there I picked up a hitchhiker. This one was the quietest hitchhiker that I have ever given a ride. His name was Paul. When he first spoke, I thought that he was mentally handicapped. His voice sounded weird, the more I talked to him I begin to think he was from the north. I found out later that he was from Montana. I have met a few people from Montana, and they did not sound like him. The closest thing I can compare his accent to is that it sounded like what the dumb chicks on golden girl voice would have sounded like. I dropped him off at the love's. There is a large amount of traffic around that place, I hope he found a ride.

On the way to little rock, I saw two guys is a very, dirty, and small truck skinning, or at least picking up a deer. Only in a red state.

Also, it seems to me that Mexicans make unholy use out of our interstate system. For every single car I see, it seems that nearly half of them are Mexicans with everything inside of an old truck. I do not think that is a bad thing, it is just interesting.

Another interesting thing that happened, was my sister bought some running shoes. She is training to run a half marathon this coming December. She went to athlete's foot, and they had the most amazing shoe system I have ever seen. The have a "state-of-the-art FitPrint" system. It sounds like a lot of bull crap on their site.

"The FitPrint System is a state-of-the art computer system that measures pressure points in the feet, providing detailed information regarding foot characteristics and proper fit. After stepping onto the FitPrint System, the customer receives a complimentary personalized hard copy analysis within minutes! The Athlete's Foot has exclusive rights to this cutting-edge technology. "

This is what all that mumbo jumbo equates to. You step on a pad, which is connected to a computer. That computer has a screen which displays a static map of the pressure points of you feet, it also shows you your balance points. While a static map is good to get a general idea of your foot type, it only gives specific clues to what shoe fits you best. They take it one step further. After you get a static map, you then walk over the square sensor with you left foot. Turn around. Then you walk over the square sensor with you right foot. These two steps take a dynamic, moving scan of your feet, showing you balance curves and power curves.

The most impressive thing is that they have broken down their product line to three or four different types of feet. So if you have high arch, they have a shoe and insert line to fit your general foot type.

While the technology was impressive, I found the use of technology to drive the customer selection process more impressive.

"Hezbollah flew an unmanned surveillance plane over Israel Sunday. Israel said the plane crashed in Lebanese territory, while Hezbollah said that its drone had returned safely to base."Where are they getting the money to put into R&D? I probably do not want to know the answer to that question.

My guess is that I will be about 11 to 13 months until one of these are used in an attack by terrorists. The plane probably will be built with technology you can buy from the internet. It probably will not do much damage, but that will only be the first one.

The problem with these small planes is that they will be hard to find and stop.

In the Netherlands they are either experiencing growing pains from transitioning into an unsettled society, or they are on the brink of a culture war.

"Earlier this week, a small fire was set at a mosque in Utrecht, and a pig's head was left in a plastic bag outside a mosque in Amsterdam.""Mainstream Muslim groups condemned the killing but nevertheless have been the target of anger in the Netherlands."The only solution for the mainstream muslim groups is to clean house, and clean it well. They can condemn all they want, but until they join the fight against extremist they will be caught in the middle and suffer the most casualties.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

The first thing that we must agree on in this up coming conversation is that owning a gun is a right which has been granted to us by the constitution and has been a long standing tradition. If you do not agree with that, please read below. If you do agree please go to the section labeled Argument Scope.

It has been a long standing tradition to own, use, and keep guns with you in America. If you have reasons for changing that tradition, they must be valid, unbiased, and have a clear understanding of why the tradition was created in the first place.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."The right to bear arms is in the same realm as freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Some people believe that the right to bear arms does not exist outside of a "militia". There are a few problems with this idea.

The first problem I see is that the US constitution says the federal government has the right to regulate the "Militia", that does not mean fund it. So if the federal government does not fund this state"Militia", who buys the guns? It is the people who buy the guns, own the guns, and use the guns.

Another reason why the right to bear arms exist is because of the "shall not be infringed" clause. It is obvious to me, that not being able to by any type of gun that I want (up to and including military machine guns, anti tank guns, and sniper rifles) is an infringement. I would like to point out the steps it takes for me to get a CCW. I will spend over two hundred dollars taking state mandated courses and paying license fees to the sate. I will also under go a federal back ground check (Invasion of privacy). Should the government know if you own guns? I personally do not mind them knowing, but I do mind them not letting me have effective (ie military quality) weapons in which to defend myself from criminals, invaders, and they government itself.

Finally, it goes against many of the founders other writings and thoughts to suggest that owning guns is not a right, necessary, or essential part of American heritage.

"Never trust a government that doesn't trust its own citizens with guns." - Benjamin Franklin "A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore by the constant companion of your walks." - Thomas Jefferson"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials." -George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 425-426."The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." -Thomas Jefferson. Love your country, but never trust its government.
-- Robert A. Heinlein. "To disarm the people (is) the best and most effectual way to enslave them..." -George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 380. "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined...The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.: -Patrick Henry. More quotes here....

Argument Scope

Bearing arms is a right, but is also a right that you can abstain from. The up coming talks will discuss the personal trade offs of gun ownership, the societal trade offs, and the resulting public policy of gun ownership. This discussion will require effort on both sides to research data, remove the cloud of biases, and be honest. I am willing to put forth the effort to research gun ownership and the effects, and I ask that you will be able to do the same and join me in this discussion.

I have been talking about guns a lot recently with my friends. On of them who is not very political in general, sent me this email.

Subject: Prospective purchaseThis morning I kept hearing about a study about having a gun in the home and how it drastically increases the chances of being killed in a homicide, etc. I can't find the study but I know it was from the CDC.

He just cited the brady campaing to me. Well I have not have time to respond, but I am going to do some research on each of links, send him the correct numbers, read to him the bill of rights, and then take him gun shopping.

"European leaders urged President Bush to work closely with America's allies on issues like terrorism and the environment in his second term, while critics of the president worried re-election would embolden him to pursue conservative policies..."Oh no bush is going to pursue conservative policies, just like we elected him to.

What it actually said was the above part + "...more aggressively than ever."Now as the president is making his plans for the next four years it is a good idea for me to put my wishlist together. I demand that bush handle these problems and give me what I want, or I will just complain in uppercase, if he does not.

Here is the list in no particular order.

Removing the personal income tax and imposing just national sales tax.
Simplifying the corporate tax code (flat tax like Russia and some eastern bloc countries)
HSA's
Allow me to put MY social security money into MY personal 401k type account.
Fix Iraq.
Stop North Korea, and disarm them
Stop Iran, and disarm them
Solve the Israel problem
Secure our border
Keep an eye on Russia and China
Encourage growth in china and Russia
Do not get in the way of the growth of the internet.
Get rid of farm subsidies
And how about getting rid of the law that says I cannot buy new machine guns.

On thing to note: According to supply side economics, lowing the tax rate should come before fixing social security.

Well in truth, i did not tell you that. I just mentioned that and assumed you agreed.

"4. You could make discrimination based on BMI (Body Mass Index) legal. This would allow planes, trains,and public transportation to charge the truly fat peoples more. It would also allow health insurance to charge the fat more also. BMI can be calculated very exactly using other tools besides height and weight. This would only be fair, because if you have large amounts of muscle and small amounts of body fat, you BMI would still be high. (same amount of government)"Big bottoms crushing airlines' bottom lines

Heavy suitcases aren't alone in weighing down airplanes and requiring them to burn more fuel, raising flight costs. A new government study reveals that airlines increasingly have to worry more about passengers' weight.American's growing waistlines are hurting the bottom lines of airlines as extra pounds on passengers cause a drag on planes.

I just took nine months for the world the catch up. Well actually heavy suitcases are part of the problem, thin people's clothes weight less. As do short people's clothes.

Friday, November 05, 2004

Remember to obey local laws in purchasing firearms (I personally think all gun laws are un-Constitutional and according to Marbury vs. Madison do not need to be obeyed, but I leave that to you). Man i love the internet.

It could be that I am viewing biased blogs, but I am reading a lot of hate coming from the party of tolerance. It is not just limited to Americans, either.

"How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?" Britain's liberal Daily Mirror tabloid asked. "March of the Moral Majority," said the front page of the Daily Mail, above a photo of Mr. Bush with his wife and daughters. "

"Sorry, but the American people are stupid and blind and driven by hatred and fear. They can have the fucking election, I'm buying a gun.""The unavoidably obvious explanation is that Americans are by-and-large morons. Simpleminded, uninformed and undereducated, intellectually lazy and proud in their ignorance to boot, self-important and self-righteous, arrogant and benighted idiots. They are a reflection of George W. Bush, and in him they saw themselves. That’s why they love him and trust him so. Their reality is the faith-based myth that America is blessed and always right and great and perfect and freedom is handed down by God and not manmade constitutional governments and cultures of tolerance and inquiry. The are certain that the “real” America is in the unpleasant, xenophobic, homophobic, red states in the middle, where everybody has a white picket fence in the brain and they don’t seem aware of their own squalor and the fact that they make ends meet only because the far more prosperous blue states continue to subsidize their light beer guzzling. ""Fuck you, Ohio. Fuck you fuck you fuck you. You stupid redneck mullet-haired fucking freaks, how could you vote for Bush?"

What we are seeing among the members of the left are several of the psychological effects of losing. The anger, the rationalization, the dissociation. A good example of dissociation happens when "we" changes to "they". For example, if bush lost the election, I would said the republicans or "they" lost, but since he won, "we" won.

The shameless name calling I can accept and shrug off, but the suggestions that I am dumb bother me. Just by calling an idea dumb, does not allow you to dismiss it. Where is the political discourse? Where are their ideas? Are their ideas lost in the complex world they have made?

I do not mind if you call my ideas dumb, because I am sure I have plenty of dumb ideas, but you have to tell me why my ideas are dumb for me to listen. In other words, if the right is so dumb, they should be easy to beat, because their ideas will be bad, unworkable, and easy to point out the flaws in. Yet that is not the case, they group that defeated you in this election, is the group that you call dumb.

Well if I am dumb, then what does that make you.

Some members of the left are so prideful. Pride before the fall, my friends, pride before the fall.

"Republican Mayor Giuliani adopted this strategy in New York City. He had the police strictly enforce the law against subway fare evasion and stopped (some say persecuted) the "squeegee men" who had been wiping windshields of stopped cars and demanding payment. Rates of more serious crimes fell significantly.
Democratic New York Attorney GeneralEliot Spitzer is also a prominent adherent of Broken Window Theory, especially in the context of white collar crime."Countires that perpetuate small crimes need to be punished while they are small crimes. This will stop small rouge countires from becoming big rouge countires and also stop the the growth of rouge countires. This will prevent new problems from arising, so we can starting coming up with individual soultions for rouge countries we currently have.

Most everyone is calling it for Bush. Many people in the blogsphere, and several of the media outlets, though there are some hold outs.

first off I would like to say that I was wrong.

I projected that bush would get 52 percent of the popular vote and Kerry only 48. In my haste I forgot to include Nader. I am deeply sorry that I misled you, and that my predictions where one percent off. I promise to try harder, and be more accurate in the future.

Secondly, I was wrong again on the electoral college. I missed Iowa and Wisconsin. For that I apologize. A 0.031598513011152416356877323420074 percent error rate is unacceptable. I have failed my readers, American, and my left testicle.

UPDATE: I misread Wisconsin. I had that one correct. The only state that i missed was Iowa. that makes my error rate in the electoral college perdiction .013. This is better than any other perdictions that i saw, but it is not perfect by any means. I am sorry i failed you.

I am again torn between not wanting Kerry to drag America through an election scandal, but that is countered by my desire not to hear democrats complain about not all the votes being counted for the next four years.

I am with Of the mind. Count them if it does matter, count them if it does not, and count them for the entire next week. We are America and we must set an example for the world. This is how you handle close elections, with poise, calmness, and precision.

Kerry also has a role in setting an example for the rest of the world, he cannot be a sore loser. He must concede, and concede with a certain amount of finality. If he does not, the new democratic countries that we have created might get the idea that it is normal to contest elections, and that it is ok, normal, and emotional healthy to get angry when you do not get you way. If Kerry pushes this he will damage America, his party, and tarnish the democratic process for the entire world. It is time for America to lead, and lead Kerry must.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

above 90 percent in florida and bush is ahead by 5 percent. Florida looks like it is going to bush, but as the The agitator said thier are a lot of ballots left to count even after tonight.

Fox is saying that the ACLU has sued jeb, and they want to extend the absentee ballot counting, which it would be extended to November 12 if the ACLU wins. There are a lot of absentee ballots out there.

update: 10: 12

Bush 197
Kerry 144

update 10:37

Fox says some of the most heavy GOP districs in Ohio have not reported yet.

64 percent precints reporting bush up by four percentage points in Ohio

This weekend I went camping with several long time friends and some friends from church. Friday night we sat around the fire, talked, joked, and had fun.

Saturday morning I had the privilege of shooting two different guns: A Sig 9mm and a Kimber 45.

I could not control the .45 worth anything. It jumped around a lot, and it felt like I was wildly off every time I shot. The 9mm was nice, sharp, and clean. The particular model I was shooting was a little small for my hands. The trigger was not what I expected. It was loose at first. When I felt resistance it was sharp and short. For any gun knowageable readers, is that normal for sig and/or preferable in general.

Since I am also looking to get my CCW, I decided to go to a local gun store and see what they had to offer. This gun store, Guns and Ammo in Memphis, had more hand guns than I have ever see before. They had a little bit of everything. Off in the corner away from all the guns, separate and apart as I like to say, were the HK's. They were very expensive. I was able to talk to a guy about the glocks and ask some questions. He almost sold me on buying a glock, because of Glock's popularity you can always find holsters and accessories.

I personally have never shot a glock, but you can rent them from a local gun range. I decided I should do that next. I went to the local gun range and shot a Glock 17, a 9mm. The gun I shot had the extended magazine, 17 rounds!!! If glocks had a normal safety I probably would not have a problem buying one, but I have a hard time getting over the lack of a safety. The trigger was what I expect from a gun. I asked the guy at the range desk, if he could field strip it for me. He showed me how, and pointed out a few things to me. I thought I saw rust on some of the parts , but I am not sure about that.

I am still looking around at different guns, studying, and trying to shoot as many different ones as I can. I am probably going to take the CCW class, and then buy a pistol after the class. I am open to suggestions or ideas.

"On Friday, we [three widows whose husbands died in the World Trade Center] cried when we say the tape of Osama bin Laden," said Kleinberg. "He's tan and healthy. He does not look desperate or scared. Three years ago, President Bush promised us he would capture Osama bin Laden dead or alive. He didn't do that. Instead, he diverted our attention and resources to a war in Iraq." I feel for you loss, but calling an Arab tan is like saying I am pale. IT IS HIS SKIN COLOR!!!!!!! If you saw Arafat, and he was looking good, would you say he was tan and healthy? No you would say his skin is normal color and he is healthy.

As far as looking desperate or scared? If I was going to make a video I would make sure I looked good in it also.

OBL looked tan? Where did he ever get that tan from living in a cave? His skin is not naturally that color is it?

Remember what our favorite singer Eddie glen has to say about Arabs, "They are darker than me so they must be bad."

I offer to bet this blog against any liberal blog rated as a large mammal on the TTLB Ecosystem. Winner is the blogger who backs the prevailing candidate, Bush or Kerry. I take Bush. Loser shuts down his or her blog. For good. Effective inauguration day, 2005.WOW.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

This means that if you're from of a Red State, you're 12% more likely to die in Iraq than if you're from a blue state.I am not arguing with their numbers, but they are suggesting that more people from read states join the military because they have conservative values. While this may be true, it could also be because red states are poorer, have limited employment choices, or because even because of that this writer suggests.

Fort is my man, mainly because I am voting against Ford. I have heard Ford say one thing, and it was really dumb. It concerned giving children who are born a 500 dollar savings bond. Also, allowing their parents to buy more as time goes one, and then the kids can use it for education when they get old enough. First savings bonds are not that great of an investment vehicle over the time frame you are looking at. Secondly, I think the government is involved in school to much as it is, so I don't really want too encourage more involvement.

And I do not know if I get a chance to vote on these, but if I do I will vote against them.

MEMPHIS, REFERENDUM ORDINANCE NO. 5063
To amend the residency requirement of the persons employed solely by City of Memphis or any of its departments, boards, bureaus or commissions

Basically the city is trying to capture as much revenue as possible, so they will make it mandatory that if you work for Memphis you live in Memphis. That means that either people could quit, the more qualified people will leave, or people lie about where they live. If a person wants to put up with the hour commute, pay higher property taxes in the suburbs, and deal with the cities problems more power to them. If they want to live in Miss or Ark (which it is possible to do and work in Memphis) instead of Memphis, I do not have a problem with that.

MEMPHIS, REFERENDUM ORDINANCE NO. 5072
To authorize the levy and collection of a privilege tax within the City of Memphis

The privilege being taxed is working in Memphis but living in the suburbs, and would take place on the person's income. TN does not have an income tax, which fact could make this illegal under the state constitution. Also this would drive people out of Memphis. There are some major groups that could just pick up and move just out side of the city limits, screwing Memphis. The logic goes something like this. The people driving into the city could possibly use city services, so they should tax their income.

No-one except a dumb thief plays with the security of others and then makes himself believe he will be secure. Whereas thinking people, when disaster strikes, make it their priority to look for its causes, in order to prevent it happening again. Actually Americans do that, other countres just do nothing.

Secondly, there is a finite amount of security and freedom available for the inhabitants of this earth. I touched on this here. I model the earth, well like the earth. We are all connected. Everyone's actions affect everyone else. Sometimes they are not felt, other times they are. A loss in freedom and security is a loss for everyone, even if you do not feel it.

"All that we have mentioned has made it easy for us to provoke and bait this administration. All that we have to do is to send two Mujahideen to the furthest point East to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaida, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies. "

Taking credit for getting America in Afgan and Iraq. We have lost a lot, yes. The world has also gained around 70 million new free people, who in the future will hopefully live up to the dreams we have for them.

Meaning that every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs.

As for the size of the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars. Hah hah hah. Wow...You,,,know this OBL is right. The jobs were lost, as broken quanta pointed out, because people left the work force. The debt, as percentage of GDP, has been higher than it is now.

"So I say to you, over 15 000 of our people have been killed and tens of thousands injured, while more than a thousand of you have been killed and more than 10 000 injured. And Bush's hands are stained with the blood of all those killed from both sides, all for the sake of oil and keeping their private companies in business. "

My original prediction was here, but I think that is wrong.
My new prediction is

Bush will get 52 percent of the vote
Kerry will get 48 percent of the vote.

Electoral College
Bush 279
Kerry 259

Remember I told you so.

state by state breakdown

NV to bush
HI to Kerry
OH and FL to bush
PA and NH to Kerry

OH is a lock for bush. They were ranked number on in welfare reform for the entire US. Also there is an a marriage amendment on the ballot, and if we know our conservative Christians, the only think they hate more than Arabs are homosexuals.

I have mentioned this before, and was withholding judgment. I have heard two different commercials from this guy. The first one was about genes, I heard it before I was awake completely. In the second one I heard, he was saying a vote for him would give your white kids the same rights as everyone else.

This man was playing the reverse race card. Which in my mind, is as bad as playing the regular race card.

This man is a bigot, who cloaks himself in a scientific methodology and justifies his beliefs with the theory of evolution.

In other words, Brazil wants to make it illegal to name your pets with human names. Which I would think they would want a corresponding law to make it illegal to name humans after pets, but the article did not mention it anywhere.

The article itself is very confusing, probably because the sponsor of the bills is crazy. At first the article leads you to believe that the law is to protect the children.

"Federal congressman Reinaldo Santos e Silva proposed the law after psychologists suggested that some children may get depressed when they learn they share their first name with someone's pet, Damarias Alves, a spokeswoman for Silva, said last week.
"Names have importance," said Alves. The congressman "wants to challenge people's assumptions that it's acceptable to give animals human names," she said. "Then at the end it says, "He's [Reinaldo Santos e Silva] proposed many laws to protect wildlife in Brazil, but this is the only one that has ever gotten any attention," Alves said."How does this law protect "wildlife"?
The commentors of the local news show mentioned that they also wanted a law to protect the mental health of their pets by making it illegal to name humans after pets.

When I named my dog after my deadbeat uncle, I only meant that gesture in the up most respect.